Tahitian Princess

Chris n' Zoe

Age: 38

Occupation:Buyer

Number of Cruises: 4

Cruise Line: Princess

Ship: Tahitian Princess

Sailing Date: March 20th, 2006

Itinerary: 10-Day South Pacific

My self and my partner booked
this holiday well in advance and we paid over $7000 for this trip (Not including
day trips and incidentals) We are both from the UK and like our other UK
companions had to travel to Heathrow and then take a 10.5 hour flight to LAX. We
stayed in the Hilton over night and then flew from LAX to Papeete (8.5 hours).
We arrived at the Tahitian Princess at 11.30Pm in the evening with no dining
facilities except for a poorly prepared buffet bar. Hungry and Jet lagged we
went to bed.

Now as stated above we planed
this in advance, months in advance. We filled in all our details on the internet
as requested by Princess. But we still had to fill and re-fill all our details
on our travels to Papeete. Why?

I am going to discuss the boat part of this cruise in this review as like I said
above you can find all the information regarding islands on the internet.

ENTERTAINMENT.
Well I will be honest here. Except for the Casino we never ventured to any of
the shows as we had more important things to do on our Holiday evenings!!!! So I
can not comment on the ENT’s staff or shows.

The Casino staffs were great and
we had a good time losing some of our money. The Staff in the Casino were
actually better mannered and trained than in any of the other areas and gave us
the respect and service we expected on this cruise.

DINING
The Panorama Buffet was ok but not brilliant. Could have done with at least a
proper selection of ‘2 meat and veg’ but we ate here a lot due to the above
comment of the evenings.
We never ate in the dining room except for the last Lunch time so I can not
comment on the dining room.

We did how ever take up the $15
and $20 per head in the Steak house and Sabitinis.
The Steak house meal, which was on my Birthday, was great and the staffs were so
wonderful. It was worth the total of $70 extra for wine and food.

Sabitinis was a very bad
experience. We dined in this restaurant on the first formal evening. We were
told that on this evening there were doing a sample of everything on the menu!”!
This ruined our meal as we don’t like everything on the menu and there were
about 6 courses in total!!! In the end we only managed to take two bites out of
our main course and had to retire as we felt sick after all the other items.
This cost us $70 with drinks and was not worth a cent!
We were not the only couple leaving the restaurant a bit let down!

As for the senior staff in the
dining areas they need to have some training in customer service. We were not
treated well at all by senior members of the team and it was evident that they
looked after the people they thought would look after them or spoke their
dialect. The Manager should be demoted and go back to basics as he was an
ignorant person and looked down on us! I may look like a young person but I am
38 years old and except to get a decent service when paying $70 on top of the
$7000 to eat in their restaurant. *Princess you need to seriously look at this
problem!

The Pizzeria also became a
regular haunt for us due to the above comment of the evenings but again the
senior members of staff need to learn that they to are staff and are to set an
example to the other staff by offering its customers a service.

One example was one evening we
were just finishing our Pizza and we wanted a drink from the Bar. I attracted
the attention of the Head waiter and asked for two drinks but was meet with the
reply.” I am off to the captain’s party so can you wait for the other head
waiter” with which we waited 10 minutes for a drink! Now I know you Americans
would not have accepted that! And we Brits don’t expect that type of service
either, again $7000.00 plus to get this service.

We did not use any other place to eat so can not comment. To sum it up I
strongly disagree with the $200.00 we paid on our account for gratuities as I
believe that the people who deserve this gratuity don’t get it and would rather
give it to them myself. The dining staff certainly should have not had any as we
did not get the service that the gratuity thanks them for. The senior members of
staff need to re trained in customer service and pass this on to the staff.

CABINS AND ROOM SERVICE
We stayed in cabin 7000 forward at the front of the ship. We paid a little bit
extra for this room and was worth it as you are facing the front and get to see
all the views on your balcony as you are travelling. The room is no different
than the other baloney rooms but it was fun watching the front of the ship go up
and down on the currents. At night when it was clear you have the most amazing
view of the stars as there is no lights on the front decks as the control room
was right above us, so you had no reflection of light and could see the sky
really clear. Even with the control room above we experienced no noise at night
from them and the room was quiet except for port days when we docked or left a
port as you do have the bow of the ship with the anchor etc. This did not bother
us as we were up early anyway and it was fun to watch how it all works.

The rooms are clean, tidy and
comfortable. A bit smaller than other ships but this is a small ship so we
adapted to this.

The room attendant or steward was
a hard working person. He never had a day off, only having the afternoons as a
break and it did not matter how busy he was he would always stop to make sure we
were ok and had everything we needed. All the room stewards on board were
courteous as we passed them. I believe they should at least have a day off
sometime during the cruise. Many thanks to all the room stewards on board.

*Princess make a note that the
senior team from restaurants should have a day doing what these guys do!!

This is another example of the
gratuity system. People who offer you a service and work hard should be thanked
more than others. The pot wash guy in the kitchens is another example as he to
worked hard and we felt he did not get much time off the ship.

Room service was good and we made
the most of this when we needed. Again the room service staff gave that extra
smile and service and was tipped accordingly. *Princess. Put these guys in the
restaurant!

SHOPPING ON BOARD.
There are 2 shops on board offering gifts, jewels, clothes etc. We only
purchased minor items as we got all our gifts and jewels off the ship in ports.
The reason is we feel we wanted to support the local people for letting us use
their islands and they rely on our support as an income. Without these islands,
Princess would not have cruises there!

The gift shop staffs were
friendly and helpful when we needed to buy certain items.

The Pearl shop manager however
must be related to the senior members of the restaurant.

My partner was interested in a
diamond and pearl ring they had on offer but the person running the shop made no
effort to say hello or ask how we were and was only interested in the American
customers. We tried a couple of times to attract his attention but he continued
chasing the American couples. At one point he even did not move out our way so
we could get to another display. In retail you should not judge a book!! Every
person in the shop is a potential customer. I would like to say to this person
that you lost a sale of approx $1500 and I brought my partner a fine pearl and
diamond necklace from the locals on shore! With which I can claim back any taxes
I paid! Better value than your items on board. My advice to passengers… Shop
around on shore as it works out cheaper once you get your refund off the local
customs.

Buy an Inch! And buy crap! Again
I advise buying from local shops and jewellers!

EXCURSIONS
Before I continue I would like to say that the islands we visited were wonderful
and the locals were brilliant except in Papeete Market where we had heard of 5
attempted pick pocket thefts from fellow cruisers. How many actually succeeded
we don’t know as Princess Staff would not tell us. Things like this happen in
all major towns and cities world wide… look after your valuables!! You can find
all information regarding each island on the internet so I won’t waste much time
explaining them, except to say explore and enjoy as they are wonderful. If you
can afford it book an over water bungalow at Le Meridian.!! More of that later.

While Princess offer the comfort of having ready made tours these are expensive.
After having two tours we found it better value to travel independent. It is
down to your own circumstance. The organized tours you are with fellow cruisers
and are safe in the knowledge Princess will look after you on these trips. But
that’s why we pay for travel insurance!! We had very informative and interesting
tours with local taxi drivers that cost less than what Princess offered and the
locals know the best hideaways and beaches and for that little extra tip they
will tell you the best places. We found some gem beaches while on this cruise.
At Bora Bora we had pre-arranged an over night stay in a water bungalow at the
Le Meridian and boy did we feel the difference between the service on the ship
to the service we got from staff at the Le Meridian. We were looked after from
the moment we arrived to the moment we left… well worth the $730.00 we paid over
the internet for a premium over water bungalow. We were on a holiday and felt we
had to invest this for the experience and it was the best 24 hours we had on
holiday. It was worth every cent! *Princess. Make a note. Send your President of
the company to this hotel to see what other companies offer when you pay for the
luxury of a 5 or 6 star hotel. When he gets back get him to train his senior
staff members in customer service.

We did not get to see Raratonga
due to bad swells and after speaking to members of staff on board this appears
to be a regular thing to happen. Why does Princess continue to sail all the way
down to these islands knowing that there is a chance of not getting a shore. The
weather conditions were not bad but because the swell was high it was cancelled.
I agree with safety so I accepted this but it keeps happening! So for excursions
I advise you decide before you go what you want and plan ahead. The internet has
all the information you need regarding these destinations and the locals are
only to glad to help you out. We searched all the forums for advice and found
this helpful. If you wish to use the Princess trips book early via their website
as some of the trips sell out very very fast. * Princess. Review your ports for
this area!

RECEPTION / PURSERS DESK
The reception offers things like change for the laundry (Deck 7), currency
exchange (better value with your bank), accounts and billing and complaints. We
found these guys to be related to the senior members of the restaurant (Princess
is one big family!) We had a problem with my credit card but did not know until
they decided to send me a bill with an outstanding amount for $90 demanding
payment! I went to the desk and they told me my card had declined. I asked them
what they could do and all I got was that its not their problem call my bank.
*Princess. Make a note. My bank was over 8000 miles away; my bank was 10 hours
ahead of us. You charge $5 a minute on the phone. When was I supposed to bloody
make a call to my bank! We were in the middle of the Pacific stuck on the boat
for 3 days as you missed the port of Raratonga.

I managed after to call my bank
at the next port and they told me that Princess were authorising my card
everyday! So they stopped it as they did not know for sure who it was and why. I
also found out it was authorising more than I was spending. Why? There is no
mention anywhere to warn UK passengers that Princess charge your card daily.

I sorted the card out with the
bank, paid my account off with Princess and never used the account again except
for the occasionally drink. There are cash points in the islands and we got a
better deal on the exchange rate. Use local currency from the cash points and
then when you have finished Princess convert back to dollars for you. We
actually found it was a better deal for UK passengers. £1 = 1.71cfp / £1 =
$1.73. advice to UK companions is get cash direct from cash points and then go
on board to get $$$ and use this in casino. Saves 6% charge on account on board
and the £ to $ on the ship was 1.50. Bad exchange rate.

The staffs on the desk were
unhelpful and did not help me at all. It was embarrassing to me to try and stand
there to explain to them what had happened and even then they refused to accept
it was anything to do with them.

I got the feeling on this cruise
that because we were UK, Young looking (even though I am 38) and not parading
around with all the bling bling we got looked down on by all the senior members
of staff.

*Princess. On the subject of
bling bling. I have been taught that you do not attract attention to yourselves
by showing off your wealth unless in an appropriate manner like a formal evening
or function. One cruiser lost her big fancy diamond ring in the Spa pool! Not
heard to date if they found it but this is an example of what I am saying, also
don’t judge a book!

BARS
Again due to our evening activities we did not venture much in the evenings to
the bar but when we went to the casino we used the bar waiters who appeared well
dressed and presentable. But once again Princess’s Family came out and we
experienced bad service from the senior members of the bar! One day I went to
the bar in the casino and the senior bar tender was reading a Princess Platter
and it must have been really really interesting that day as it took him 5
minutes to notice me sitting right in front of him. When he did eventually
request what I wanted I got a cold look off him as I only wanted a glass of
sprite on my card. Now I know you Americans again would have shouted at the guy,
but I am English, I am reserved and don’t like to complain too much. (This
review is the most I have complained.) That’s no excuse for the service we have
had! A customer comes to the bar you serve them fast and friendly.

Pool bar was the same. Waiters
were friendly and kept you filled up with drinks, but go direct to the Bar and
get a smile off the senior members!! Are these guys on the pill or was it PMT. I
have never never had such a bad service at a bar, even in some of the working
men’s clubs in the UK serve you with a smile. Guys, if you don’t like the job.
GET OUT!

DIS-EMBARKING
Where do I begin? We were warned before we went that on the final day we were to
be out of our rooms before 10am and the suitcases were out by 10pm the day
before. Warning: Pack a very large carry on day bag. It’s a long day to be
hanging around in the same clothes. We made use of all the facilities on board
including $15 day spa pass (showers can be used free in the spa before you go)
and we had to pay cash for all items purchased on the final day as they close
all accounts at midnight the night before. We were finally called at 8.15pm to
go to the airport.

Warning: wear light clothes for
the airport. It is hot and there is no air conditioning, we were warned about
this before we cruised so we were prepared for the 1.5 hour wait in the check in
line.

Now we live in the UK. That is
8000 miles away. In the interary for us was a stop over in LAX for a quick
shower and change of clothes at the Hilton with which we had vouchers for. When
we arrived after 2 hours in a hot sticky airport and 8 hours on a very full
plane we approached the Princess Rep and said who we were. We were not on the
list! She said Princess had cancelled the tickets as we were due to check in for
our UK flights. This was part of the intinery!! And not one rep or person from
Princess had contacted us regarding this! Were the reps at LAX related to the
senior members of the restaurant, OH NO... I forgot that Princess is a one big
happy Family. So we had no change of clothes or shower and we had to hang around
LAX for another 4 hours before departing on a 10.5 hour flight which was delayed
by 1.5 hours. We got back to Heathrow and found we were late back so we had to
dash over to Gatwick to make our return flight back to Jersey CI. Again no
chance to change clothes etc. In total from 8.00pm on Thursday to 4.00pm on
Saturday UK time we had not much time to have a shower wash or anything. In
total we travelling 44 hours and Princess were not involved any where along the
way. Why did they cancel our showers!!! We paid for them!!

ONCE YOU HAVE LEFT PAPEETE
AIRPORT YOU NO LONGER LOOKED AFTER BY PRINCESS!

OVERALL
If I had a chance of getting off the boat in the middle of my cruise I would
have! But we had paid $7,000 for the cruise and were 8000 miles away from home.
The holiday was no better than 10 days in a Pontins Holiday Camp (For members of
the USA, please see www.pontins.com to what Pontins offer, And I am sorry to
Pontins for comparing them to Princess)

We have learned a very very
expensive mistake and will never use Princess again. I would have rather used
the money and visited these islands independently and advise any UK member to
look around before going on this cruise. There are better cruise lines out there
offering a chance to get to see these beautiful islands. Better still try and
travel independently to stay on the islands as they are fantastic.